Remembering Grant Wahl: A Talented Journalist, Great Person, and Champion of American Soccer
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Hey Friends, I want to start the week by mourning the death of American soccer journalist Grant Wahl. He was 49 years old and passed away this weekend while covering a World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands at Lusail Stadium in Qatar. I didn’t know Grant, personally — and I don’t want to speculate on potential reasons for his death without further evidence. But what I do know is that Grant was the single most prominent soccer journalist in America, and he single-handily introduced the world’s most popular sport to millions of people in the United States. Grant graduated from Princeton University in 1996. He then joined Sports Illustrated as a fact checker and spent the next two decades — from 1996 to 2021 — building a world-class resume for his coverage of college basketball and soccer. But Grant wasn’t just a good writer—he was a great writer and cared about others. Grant wrote some of the most iconic S.I. cover stories, including LeBron’s “The Chosen One” in 2002, David Beckham’s “Welcome To L.A.” in 2007, “Rock Chalk, Champions” in 2008, and Mario Balotelli’s “Molto, Molto, Mario” in 2013.
But like I said, Grant wasn’t just a writer. He knew there was corruption throughout global soccer’s governing body, and he ran to unseat FIFA’s President in 2011. He was fired by Sports Illustrated during the pandemic for challenging their permanent 30% pay cuts, and he was recently detained by security in Qatar for wearing a rainbow-colored shirt to a World Cup match in support of his brother Eric (who is gay). 
Just now: Security guard refusing to let me into the stadium for USA-Wales. “You have to change your shirt. It’s not allowed.”
So while there are undoubtedly more details to come over the next few days and weeks, let’s use today to remember Grant Wahl. He was a talented journalist, but more importantly, he was a great person. You can read all of Grant’s historical articles via his vault at Sports Illustrated. I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk tomorrow. Your feedback helps me improve Huddle Up. How did you like today’s post? Loved | Great | Good | Meh | Bad Lance Armstrong: The rise, fall, and redemption of a cycling legendIf you are not a subscriber of Huddle Up, join 72,000 other professional athletes, business executives & casual sports fans that receive it directly in their inbox each morning — it’s free.
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